Every Cruze I had as a rental was fine, but not something to write home about. All were pretty well equipped and rode like a car of that class would.

I did not notice anything that would detract or otherwise stand out about any of the rent-a-Cruzes I drove. I can’t imagine anything of consequence “that could impact customer satisfaction with our products” in a car of that price class. We’re not talking luxury here – not even near-luxury.

When I actually put money down on a car of that class and size, I helped buy a 2011 Elantra for my grand-daughter’s HS grad gift, this past May. It was her choice and she looked at several of them including the Cruze, Fiesta, Corolla, Civic, Fit and others. The Elantra, at <$17K out the door, clearly presented the most bang for the buck in that segment.

If the inventories of the Cruze have grown recently it can only be attributed to the fact that the Cruz doesn't sell as well as the boys and girl in marketing thought it would.

I suspect that there is more to this story than meets the eye although I can't imagine that many people will be impacted by this if existing inventories are ample.